Key Takeaways
- Morgan Stanley is exploring crypto market expansion with US regulators.
- New regulatory changes signal a more accommodating environment for banks to engage with crypto assets.
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Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick announced the bank will be working with US regulators to explore expanding its crypto market presence, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
“For us, the equation is really around whether we, as a highly regulated financial institution, can act as transactors,” Pick told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. “We’ll be working with Treasury and the other regulators to figure out how we can offer that in a safe way.”
This announcement comes at a time when the pro-crypto stance of the Trump administration is reshaping the regulatory landscape.
Earlier this week, the acting head of the SEC launched an effort to create a regulatory framework for digital assets.
Morgan Stanley was the first major US financial institution to offer Bitcoin funds to its wealth management clients in 2021. The bank later expanded its services in 2024 to allow financial advisors to market Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock and Fidelity.
Pick, who became CEO in January 2024, discussed Bitcoin’s durability in the market.
“The broader question is whether some of this has come of age, whether it’s hit escape velocity,” he said. “You know, time is the friend of crypto; the longer it trades, perception becomes reality.”
The bank’s move comes as the regulatory landscape shifts.
While banks were previously restricted from owning “physical” Bitcoin under the Biden administration, limiting their activities to derivatives, recent regulatory changes signal a more accommodating environment.
On Tuesday, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan shared his perspective in an interview with CNBC.
He expressed that if clear regulations are introduced to legitimize business activities with crypto, the banking system would embrace it in a significant way.
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